


write our names in the wet concrete

by screamignrodent



Series: teacher!phan au that no one asked for [2]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Teacher AU, dan howell owns a dog, mentioned abuse (the dog was abused), mentioned dog attack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:22:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21648973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/screamignrodent/pseuds/screamignrodent
Summary: “Dan!” Phil instinctively scolds him, even though there’s not a single kid in sight. “Where do you suggest we go? We’ve got forty minutes until we have to be back here—no one way are we going to be able to get food and eat it in this time.”Dan gets a glint in his eye, and Phil knows he’s accepted the statement as a challenge. “You know, fast food places exist, right Philly?”“Well, I didn’t expect our first date to be—” Ah, shit, he’s said it. He may as well commit to it now and swallow his pride. Dan’s watching him with an unreadable expression, his mouth quirked upward and eyebrows drawn to his hairline, but Phil can’t tell if he’s looking snarky or hopeful. “At a McDonald’s, is all.”
Relationships: Dan Howell & Phil Lester, Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Series: teacher!phan au that no one asked for [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1061906
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	write our names in the wet concrete

**Author's Note:**

> sorry i uh took so long to write another part of this au. im so sorry i hope at least one (1) of you enjoys this

Waking up in a stranger’s bed will never be the highlight of Phil’s life.

His muscles feel particularly stiff, his right arm is numb, and he panics as soon as he opens his eyes.

Dan has his head on Phil’s bare chest— _oh_ , he remembers where he is and who he’s with. The panic subsides, leaving behind a pang in his chest. Did it mean anything to Dan? Were they just _bros_ who also happened to work at the same fucking school?

Dan yawns and blinks his eyes a couple of times, staring up at Phil with an expression that, dare Phil say, seems like adoration. “Morning sleepy head,” he hears himself say. Dan grins stupidly at that.

“Morning, early bird,” he snarks back, snuggling closer onto Phil’s numb arm.

“Wake up,” Phil rolls onto his back and pushes Dan off of him.

“Five more minutes, _mum_.”

“No, come on. It’s Sunday and I have marking to finish,” Phil checks his phone—which is at thirteen percent (yikes), _8:36_. That’s early enough.

“ _No_ ,” Dan whines. “If you have marking to do it means you’ll leave me.”

“ _Dan_ ,” Phil gripes back, matching his whiny-tone. “We need to get up. I’ll run back to my place and get my papers and some clothes, okay?”

Dan pouts but doesn’t argue, he just sits up and crushes Phil in a hug. “I’m not being to clingy, right?”

“Oh, you definitely are, but I like it.”

“Good.”

Phil’s flat is cold and vacant. He left the heater off when he went to the store and the autumn chill has seeped into his home. He relocates the groceries he bought yesterday from the trunk of his car to his fridge and fumbles his way to his bathroom.

He climbs in the shower, attempting to not think about Dan and what everything means too much. They’re coworkers, that’s all. They’re just… coworkers who happen to sleep with each other.

And happened to cuddle the morning after.

And not want to leave each other.

And flirt _very_ heavily with each other.

It isn’t until Monday that Dan texts him again—Phil won’t admit to himself how eager he is to see the _one unread message_ notification.

From: Dan

_meet me for lunch? i have c lunch in my room_

To: Dan

_As long as you don’t mind me finishing essays lol_

From: Dan

_never would b a problem anyways Lester_

“Oh, Mr. Lester, you’re texting in class!”

“About work, Liliana,” he tells her. “Another teacher needed to ask me about something.”

“Or was it your _girlfriend_?” Lili giggles back. Phil finds her to be much too comfortable with her teachers, but he’s never one to hand out detentions for silly reasons, so he sticks out the taunting.

“No, Liliana. You have work to do.”

Phil likes learning little things about Dan. He learns that Dan prefers coffee over tea, he can’t hold his phone properly, and that he’s shit at small talk.

He’s not been pretentious about it—in fact, he’s the exact opposite. He bumbles through the small talk despite his abhorrent _awkwardness_. To see Dan leaning against a wall asking about how the weather is or answering a question Phil had about his dog is so _uncomfortable_ to watch. Yet, Phil likes him all the more for it.

“We should just hop in my car and get lunch,” Dan groans, staring at the wall. “I forgot to pack a lunch, and school lunch is shit.”

“Dan!” Phil instinctively scolds him, even though there’s not a single kid in sight. “Where do you suggest we go? We’ve got forty minutes until we have to be back here—no one way are we going to be able to get food and eat it in this time.”

Dan gets a glint in his eye, and Phil knows he’s accepted the statement as a challenge. “You know, fast food places exist, right Philly?”

“Well, I didn’t expect our first date to be—” Ah, shit, he’s said it. He may as well commit to it now and swallow his pride. Dan’s watching him with an unreadable expression, his mouth quirked upward and eyebrows drawn to his hairline, but Phil can’t tell if he’s looking snarky or hopeful. “At a McDonald’s, is all.”

Dan coughs out a laugh, “I promise I’ll take you somewhere proper, we don’t have to count this one as a first date.”

Phil chews on the skin of his lower lip, “Then what do you suggest we call it?” Dan shrugs.

“I don’t know, I’m spit balling, here. We’re just grabbing lunch. Off-the-books sort of thing, yeah?” He flashes his brown eyes, and, okay, Phil’s kind of hungry too.

“Off-the-books,” Phil agrees.

“The historians will never know about it,” Dan promises, solemnly, and Phil can’t help the grin that breaks out onto his face. “Alright, coat on, Lester. We’re headed to old McDonald’s for whatever we want.”

Dan’s black Ford Focus smells like carpet cleaner and…wet dog, ever so slightly. It’s not dirty, at all, but it still makes Phil cringe a bit. It’s still twenty times better than Phil’s car. Dan seems to notice Phil’s discomfort, “Sorry about the smell, I was cleaning it after you’d left last weekend,” Phil takes a moment to process _that_ , “and Nellie hopped in while covered in mud. Still haven’t gotten the wet dog smell out, but I’m working on it, I promise.”

He pulls through his parking space and onto the road—how we managed to ever back _into_ the small spaces at school amazes Phil. Phil’s lucky enough that he hasn’t lost a side mirror in the damn parking lot.

Yet.

“It’s alright,” Phil says, instead of touching on the topic of the weekend, “She seems like a good dog. Where’d you get her?”

Dan’s silent for a moment, “She was actually abused by her previous owner, um, I got her from the rescue by my house. The owner, Peej? Him and I are kind of close, so when Nell came in and trusted _no one_ , he handed her over to me. Said socialization might be good for her, and that I’d be able to handle a lab if she suddenly turned on me.”

Phil gets a bit nervous, turns on him? But before he can ask, Dan’s already back to talking. “When dogs come from abuse, they might have triggers just like humans do. Sometimes you can set them off accidently without knowing it, and the dog’s initial response may be to, well, attack you. So, yeah. She’d had a history of aggression with her prior owners, too.”

“Well no wonder, if they abused her.”

Dan snorts, “Most people don’t see that she was defending herself. But she’s a good girl, never had a single issue with her, would trust her with my life.”

Phil nods along, “That’s nice. I’m glad she has you.”

Dan makes a turn into the fast food joint, “So, what about you? Ever own a dog?”

“Um, well, up north we had a beagle named Tom, but he was old and stupid and died when I was, like, five,” Phil says, “But no, none other than that. I did own hamsters, however. They weren’t very nice.”

Dan rolls down his window, “What do you want?” and Phil gives him his order and a five, but Dan waves him off. “It’s my treat, I promise,” and Phil slips the bill in his pocket grumbling about it _not being a date_.

Dan pays and pulls out of the parking lot, “Hamsters are cool, I never really had pets growing up, though. I had a cat, if that counts for anything, but she hated me.”

“Cats seem to hate me, always,” Phil says, “But I’m allergic, so I hate them right back.”

Dan hands the food bag to Phil, “Do me a favour, roll this up so it doesn’t get cold? We’ll wait ‘til we get back to eat.” Phil complies, rolling the top of the bag over and placing it at his feet. Dan continues on, “I quite like cats, there’s even some strays in my neighbourhood that quite like me, and Nellie does fine since her past owners outnumbered her with cats.”

“I feel like everyone likes you,” Phil says, without thinking. Thankfully, Dan laughs.

“Yeah, I wish. My next door neighbour _hates_ me. She’s threatened to call the cops on me when I let Nell out front ‘cause it’s not safe,” Dan checks his rearview mirror and makes a sharp turning, causing Phil to hang onto the drinks so that Dan’s coffee doesn’t spill on his jeans. “Sorry, should’ve warned you. The light was about to change and I didn’t want to miss it.”

“’S’all good,” Phil places the drinks back into the cupholder. “Nothing spilled.”

“Good, good,” Dan turns off the car, and grabs the bag of food from Phil’s feet. “My room?”

“Sure,” Phil says, and they head inside. He tries to hide the blush that creeps across his face as they pass the secretary, but he’s pretty sure he does a shit job.

Oh, well, at least this one didn’t technically count as a date.

It isn’t until eight at night that Phil gets a text.

_From: Dan_

_oi, 6pm saturday ill be picking you up. dress nice_

_To: Dan_

_What?_

_From: Dan_

_u said u wanted a proper date so were going be ready_

_To: Dan_

_I’ll be ready, then._

Guess he’ll be picking out an outfit.


End file.
